Dreadfully Boring

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

"She's Working Her Way Through College" is a bizarro version of college life--where students wear perfectly coordinated outfits, the average age of a co-ed if 30 and everyone breaks into song in giant choreographed numbers on a college set that is obviously a sound stage! It's very glossy but also very trivial--the sort of forgettable film you see once and soon forget.The film begins with a college professor (Ronald Reagan) stopping by to watch a burlesque show. Now 'burlesque' is the term they use, but for burlesque, the show shows an amazingly small amount of skin--practically none! Well, it turns out that the leading lady of this show (Virginia Mayo) is an ex-student of Reagan--he taught her years ago in high school. They have a nice but brief little reunion. Afterwords, she decides that the dancing life sucks and she should go back to college to improve her writing ability--as she's written a play and wants to polish it. Naturally, when Mayo comes to campus she finds a room to rent with Reagan and his wife! You know this will cause some friction, but bookish Ronnie doesn't seem to anticipate this. What he is focused on are two things--how unfair it is that the football team gets all the funding and how he does not look forward to producing another dull Shakespearian play as their annual fund-raiser. Virginia, however, convinces him to try something new and different--and Ronnie thinks they should put on her play--after, of course, adding a lot of singing and dancing to the script. Sadly, while all the ensuing songs are pleasant enough, they really are pretty forgettable.So, can good Professor Reagan manage to pull off a hit AND finally show up that accursed football team (headed by fat-headed Don DeFore)? If you care, see for yourself.Although it's hard to recognize, Warner Brothers took one of their old scripts ("The Male Animal") and re-worked the story into "She's Working Her Way Through College". It's very different but the conflict between Ronnie and DeFore as well as DeFore's interest in the Professor's wife is exactly the same one in "The Male Animal"--with Reagan and DeFore filling in for Henry Fonda and Jack Carson. My advice? See "The Male Animal"--it's a much better film. While it lacks all the songs and burlesque queen plot (thank goodness), it has a nice infusion of humor--something curiously lacking in "She's Working Her Way Through College". Forgettable and a bit silly.silly musical numbers reworking of The Male Animal.

It's glossy in that 1950's way -- it's in color and the colors are vivid and saturated. The dance numbers are slick. There is some clever thoughtful dialogue in the Thurber-Nugent script. Virginia Mayo is very beautiful. One really bright spot 80 minutes in -- Gene Nelson's acrobatic dance routine to "Am I in Love?" But what does it all add up to? This movie is like white bread with margarine.Actors in their 30s pretending to be college kids in clothes that are perfectly color-coordinated. The vivid colors make the made-up faces look ludicrous. And locations that always look like a Hollywood soundstage.Ronald Reagan playing drunk that would embarrass a high school drama teacher. Don Defore? Gene Nelson? Sorry but there is NO charisma or charm or personality in any of the male leads. And the girl we're supposed to like is soooooo good and soooooo decent. And the girl who is nasty is sooooooo nasty.Have you heard of any of these songs? Couldn't they find one memorable and fun song? A big yawn.

Then again, I was only 10, and home sick from school.Burlesque Star, read, Exotic Dancer wants for some obscure reason, a college education. She's obviously making more dough now than she will with a BA, but never mind, she's got a heart of gold, and a yen for knowledge.Knowing what we know about the then future, and now late President, it's really ironic that he was so good about defending the rights of "shady lady." My favorite scene, in fact, was when he told the board of tight butts who wanted to kick her out of school, how she worked her way through high school too, getting up early to prepare food in the cafeteria. Corny, but it worked on me.Anyway, I don't usually like made-for-film musicals either, but I thought that this was sweet and fun, well acted and a fine way to pass a couple of hours.

I'm not much of a fan of Hollywood musicals (especially the bloated 50s variety--you can keep Kiss Me Kate, thank you) but there is something riveting about this film that is rather hard to explain. The script is sharply written and the songs are reasonably good, but the capper for me are the production numbers. Watching Gene Nelson bound around a gymnasium is a truly thrilling experience. If you think this is merely another one of President Ronnie's bad films, think again. With its candy cane Technicolor, snappy dialogue, and big productions, it's almost a pre-rock The Girl Can't Help It--and that can only be a good thing!